Fun, but I can’t imagine the Red Sox would want to trade Lackey. Because of the famous clause in his contract that gave the Sox a team option on him for 2015 if he missed significant time to an elbow injury during the deal — which he did in 2012 — the Sox can have him next year for the major league veteran minimum. There’s a great chance that the Sox tear that up and do a different deal with Lackey, but they do have some leverage with him on that score.

More to the point, though: Lackey has been a pretty darn effective starter for the Sox this season and last and has, somewhat remarkably, turned into a guy Sox fans really like. Boston likely does not believe that this apparently lost season is something that will bleed over to next year and, as such, they likely picture him contributing to the 2015 Sox.

I, on the other hand, would not be the least bit surprised if he’s dealt.

He could actually bring more back in trade than most of the other garbage on their roster and his salary for next year becomes someone else’s problem because he’s already started the passive aggressive “i’ll have to evaluate things at the end of the season” crap……

Lackey has promised to retire rather than honor the league minimum option in his contract. To me, that makes it the Sawks’ responsibility to keep him, never negotiate, and force him to retire. Do the right thing, Larry Lucchino. End this.

Just curious, when exactly did he say he’d retire rather than play at the league minimum? I know he gave the vague, ‘evaluate’ remark, but that could constitute a number of things. I never assumed that he would retire. I must have missed the discussion he had.
I know when the possibility of John Lackey retiring next year was brought up to Ben, he cut that conversation short. He had no awareness of it and would expect nothing other than Lackey signing a contract and completing that contract. This interview was done on a pre-game show on NESN. So, viewers saw that.

I’d love a good read on John Lackey’s retirement.

Personally, I’d hate to think he’d do that. I’d also hate to see him go. Sign him to an extension, don’t trade him.

There’s no way Lackey plays for the league minimum next year. Maybe he’ll pull a Bartolo Colon and walk and void the rest of his contract. Or maybe he’s already demanding a trade and nobody knows about it. As good as Lackey has been this year, maybe if they trade him they’ll get people who can actually hit.

Even if he where to retire for a year wouldn’t he still be under contract with the sox for the league minimum when he returned….i think hell keep his end of the bargain and the sox will ultimately take care of him